A place to let out your inner elitist movie snob...
A movie review a day seemed like a good idea at the time... Now, I review what I can get to. Most reviews will have no score or letter grade, but the ones I repost from population GO will have the GO score visible. Post your comments, thoughts, arguments, criticisms, hatred, vitriol, and various lovely compliments in the space below each review.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Top 5: Uses of a Popular Song in a Movie

First & foremost, I have to thank my friend Rob Nargi for suggesting this to me, and for his favorite, which made #4 on my list. Thank you sir!

The
use of popular songs in films is not a new art. Directors have been
cutting scenes in their films to popular songs for as long as films have
been made. Often there are great pairings that happen, such as Mike
Nichols' decision to set most of The Graduate to the songs of Simon & Garfunkle, or Paul Thomas Anderson's collaboration with Aimee Mann on Magnolia.

In
thinking about my top five examples though, I wanted to look at one-off
uses of a pop song in a film used to heighten the emotion of the scene.
These are my five favorite pairings of song & scene. I'm sure I've
forgotten a bunch, and many just missed the cut ("Raindrops Keep Falling
on My Head" from Butch Cassidy or "Head Over Heels" from Donnie Darko) but these five rose to the top.

5. Ferris Bueller's Day Off: "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" covered by Dream Academy.
The
thought of doing a list like this without including a scene from a John
Hughes movie is absurd, since he was the voice of youth, music &
movies in the 80s. My favorite example has got to be the scene in Ferris Bueller's Day Off
when the star trio slow things down with a visit to The Art Institute
of Chicago. The use of an instrumental version of one of The Smiths'
most famous songs is brilliant, and this scene, more than any other,
still sticks with me even though I probably haven't watched this movie
in five years.

4. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind: "If I Had a Hammer" by Peter, Paul & Mary
George Clooney's directorial debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind,
is one of my all-time favorite movies. Charlie Kaufman's screenplay,
based on Chuck Barris' "autobiography," is filled with tons of
incredible dialogue & anchored by an amazing lead performance by Sam
Rockwell. However, it was Clooney's use of the seemingly innocuous
Peter, Paul & Mary song, played as Barris is losing his mind, that
showed he had talent to spare behind the camera.

3. Fight Club: "Where is My Mind" by The Pixies
David
Fincher is an artist of the highest caliber, and since he got his start
in music videos, it should be no surprise that he makes insanely good
use of music in his films. This slot could have easily gone to the
"Hurdy Gurdy Man" scene from Zodiac or the rowing competition from The Social Network
set to "In the Hall of the Mountain King." However, when I think of
music in a Fincher film, there's no better example than his use of
"Where is My Mind" by The Pixies to end Fight Club since it
artfully manages to combine music, imagery and the overall theme of the
film into one scene lasting less than a minute. Gorgeous.

2. Goodfellas: "Layla" by Derek & The Dominos
Martin
Scorsese is another director with whom I could fill an entire list of
best uses of music. He started the trend right in the opening credits of
Mean Streets with The Ronettes' "Be My Baby," and he's used
"Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones to great in effect in three of his
films, and none of this is even mentioning his concert films like The Last Waltz. However, his crowning achievement has got to be this scene from Goodfellas
in which Jimmy (Robert DeNiro)'s paranoia about the Lufthansa heist
finally gets the best of him and he goes about getting rid of everyone
that was in on the heist. The song is recycled again in the end credits,
but it's the slow-motion images of death, coupled with the song &
the narration by Henry (Ray Liotta) that linger with you after the film
is over.

1. Rushmore: "A Quick One While He's Away" by The Who
For many years, Rushmore
was my favorite movie, and I've likely seen it more than I've seen any
other movie ever made. In the years that followed, Wes Anderson got a
bit twee with his use of music, but there are so many solid examples
early in his career ("Life on Mars" from The Life Aquatic, "Me & Julio..." from The Royal Tenenbaums)
that made him a master of montaging scenes to songs of The British
Invasion. The best example by far, and my favorite use of a song in a
movie ever, has got to be the scene in Rushmore when Max (Jason
Schwartzman) & Mr. Blume (a never better Bill Murray) go to war
over their mutual love of Ms. Cross (Olivia Williams). This is what
perfect editing looks like.

No comments:

Post a Comment

About Me

I began this blog as an exercise to write a movie review a day for a year. During the course of my writing I landed a job reviewing films for the website populationgo.com. I have since ceased with the movie review a day conceit, but I continue to review films every week at the least, and I often post essays & top fives that I've written.